He used to give me roses - Prisoner Cell Block H is back!

For anyone who suffers from insomnia and was around in the eighties, my musings today may well bring back pleasant memories.

I have never been a good sleeper, and the ritual of lying awake watching the alarm clock laboriously click through the early hours of the morning is an all too common occurence.

Many a night I have watched time pass through squinted eyes 10.00..........10.30............          .................. 11:00...11:30.....12.15......01.30.....02:00, praying for 6 o’clock to just hurry up and arrive so I could get up and put an end to the misery.

Although I have a television in the bedroom, I resist  the urge to reach for the on switch even if I have given up all hope of reaching the land of nod.

The only thing worse than the sound of the clock ticking endlessly would be whiling away the small hours with repeats of Loose Women or Eurotrash.

But when I was younger, my patience levels were much higher, and when my face started aching through scrunching my eyes, I would eventually give in and turn on the portable tv set in my room.

Usually it was some black and white bore-fest, and even that didn’t send me off. But sometimes there was a real treat waiting to burst into the quiet of the bedroom.

The screen would blur into focus to reveal bars, brick walls, starched grey uniforms and the scraped back buns of prison wardens.

Yes, I had switched on just in time to watch Prisoner Cell Block H – or “Prisoner” as it was officially titled.

I loved that show when I was young, and thanked my sleeplessness for keeping me awake long enough to catch another installment.

For anyone that never had the pleasure, Prisoner - PCBH to its fans - was an Australian prison drama set in Melbourne’s Wentworth Detention Centre.

Its shaky walls held the usual mottley crew of thieves, murderers, druggies  and prostitutes, but unlike  modern prison dramas, their tendancies towards violence and deception were softened by their ditsy and unthreatening nature.

Even the dreaded “screws” were only  unpleasant in a cartoon-esque, Hooded Claw sort of way, rubbing their hands and casting over-acted evil glances at the inmates.

But is was usually the inmates who managed to get one over on them, not the other way round.

There was the sour and vicious spinster Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence, right), known to the prisoners as “Vinegar Tits”, the stroppy Colleen Powell (Judith McGrath) or “Poe Face”, and who could forget the sadistic and crooked Joan Ferguson “The Freak” (Maggie Kirkpatrick).

Their disciplinarian regime was mellowed by the ever-comforting presence of Meg Morris (previously Jackson), who by virtue of her genuine care for the women was affectionately referred to as “Mrs M” (Elsbeth Ballantyne).

Under the watchful eye of governor Erica Davidson (Patsy King) they try in vain to keep the prisoners from running illegal books, brewing alcohol, bashing each other up and on occasions storming the prison and taking over – although they always get talked into giving in eventually.

The women are led by their long-standing top dog Bea Smith, played by Val Lehman, who kept order and threatened terrible consequences for anyone who dared cross her.

But if you were expecting a 20-stone, shaven headed, pierced lesbian with “LOVE” tattooed on her knuckles, you were to be disappointed with Bea.

She was more likely to be found sat in the “rec room” with her cardi around her shoulders and a ball of wool in her lap knitting and chatting to long-timer Lizzie Birdsworth, played by the legendary Sheila Florance.

There were some fantastic characters and in the true tradition of Australian Dramas, these faces would later pop up in Aussie soaps Neighbours, Home and Away, the Sullivans and the Young Doctors.

Stephan Dennis, who played Paul Robinson in Neighbours, turned up in a few roles over the years, Mrs Mangle was in it and Ian Smith (Harold Bishop from Neighbours) played Ted Douglas, from the Department (right).  He would show up after every riot and break out, or if one of the officers had misbehaved.

Anne Charleston (Madge Bishop, Neighbours), Darius Perkins (the original Scott Robinson) and Caroline Gillmer (Cheryl Stark in Neighbours) were all in it at one time.

There were some really brilliant characters and over time these ruthless lags became friends to their fans.

Despite the implausible storylines, the ludicrous plots and wooden lines, it really was good fun.

And there was the unforgettable theme tune sang by lynne Hamilton - you remember; "he used to give me roses," and so on.

I admit I often still go to bed with Lizzie, Bea, Doreen and the rest of the inmates of Wentworth through the miracle of DVDs.

Through a perverse sort of reverse psychology, an episode of PCBH is perfect to set me up for a good night’s sleep.

Anyway, I have to get round to the big news of this blog, and that is...fanfare.....it is coming back!

More than 25 years after it ended, Australian tv company Foxtel has announced it is reviving the show under the new name "Wentworth".

It will be set in the present day but will begin with Bea's early days in prison.

The storylines will include some of the original inmates and staff - such as The Freak and Vera Bennett.

Foxtel director of TV Brian Walsh said: "Wentworth will be a dynamic and very confronting drama series.

“We have told producers to push all the boundaries and honestly depict life inside as it is in 2012.”

While the cast is yet to be announced, Val Lehman has apparently said she wants to return when shooting begins in the next few months.

"F--- the cameo. I want to play the governor," she said.

I tweeted Amanda Muggleton (above) yesterday to ask if she would fancy returning as the adorable but dippy Chrissie Latham, I have my fingers crossed she will give me some sort of reply and if she does, it’ll be straight on here.

So will it be any good? – only time will tell.

With all these things the original is almost always the best, and the remake usually fails to live up to the mark.

But here’s hoping, and I shall definitely  be watching.